26.2

Wow. I've been bad about posting. I can't believe it's been a month, a month (!) since I posted last. Unbelievable. It's not that I hadn't been training, because I had. It was a pretty crazy couple of weeks there. We had a lot of house guests in the final couple of weeks. My final long run of 22 miles totally sucked. A real confidence shatterer. I ended up having to walk the final 2 miles due to some serious IT band issues.

Then there was the next week's 13 miler that got completely scrapped due to social engagements. Though, at the time, I didn't try too hard to get that run in because I felt the rest to my IT band would be more important than the longer run.

Which brings us to-

The LA Marathon.

First off, let me say that the new course, from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica Pier, was pretty damn good. I believe that Frank McCourt, owner of the Dodgers, purchased the marathon. Everything from the technical t-shirts given out, to the t.v. coverage, all seem like they're headed in the right direction. Our little marathon is growing up. Now there is certainly room for improvement, don't get me wrong. The race started almost 45 minutes late, and good thing, too. We were trapped on the freeway trying to get to the start line. There were busses of runners stuck, and some people even got out of their cars on the freeway and began to run a mile or two to the start. And the expo? Sucked. It was too small. It may have been because of economy, but when you sell out a marathon (as they did) you would think that there would be a huge expo. They've always had a good expo in the past.

The weather was beautiful! Starting out at Dodger Stadium, which is inland, we ran some pretty steep hills in the first few miles. This is also where my run nearly ended. I was having sinus issues, (shocker, I know) and it began to upset my stomach. It really kind of came out of nowhere. Before I knew it, I was pulled off to the side, with the dry heaves. That woke me up in a hurry. I figured that I could easily psyche myself out if I sat there too long, so as soon as I was finished I started to run again. It took a mile or so, but the nausea went away, and I settled into about a 8:45/mile pace.

At mile 13, in the heart of West Hollywood, I ran into D, which is always a pick-me-up. Two minutes after that I ran past a friend, and a quarter mile after that I ran into another couple of friends. I don't think I've ever run by so many friends in a marathon. It was great.

I finished in 3:58:36.

Great time? Hell no. I was hoping to finish under 4 hours, and at mile 3 that seemed like a joke. I was really pleased with the fact that I just finished, period. The fact that I also met my original time goal was really icing on the cake. I'm pretty pleased with this run.

Next on the schedule: Malibu Creek Trail Challenge. A half marathon in May.